The House of Alba de Tormes ( es, Casa de Alba de Tormes), commonly known as the House of Alba, is a prominent Spanish noble family that descended from 12th-century nobility of post-conquest Toledo. The family's claim to

Alba de Tormes Alba de Tormes is a municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. The town is on the River Tormes upstream from the city of Salamanca. Alba gave its name to one of Spain's most i ...

dates from 1429, when Gutierre Álvarez de Toledo (of the ) became Lord of Alba de Tormes while serving as

Bishop of Palencia The Roman Catholic Diocese of Palencia ( la, Palentin(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Palencia in the ecclesiastical province of Burgos, Spain.

History

In 1472, García Álvarez de Toledo, 2nd Count of Alba de Tormes, was elevated to the title of Duke of Alba de Tormes by King

Henry IV of Castile Henry IV of Castile ( Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), King of Castile and León, nicknamed the Impotent, was the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Castile and León. During Henry's reign, the nobles became ...

. In 1492, the 2nd Duke of Alba de Tormes signed the capitulation of the city of Granada. During the 16th century,

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba (29 October 150711 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba (, pt, Grão Duque de Alba) in Spain and Portugal and as the Iron Duke ( or shortly 'Alva') in the Netherlands, was a S ...

, was given the title of

governor general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

of the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...

. The third duke's first cousin was

Eleanor of Toledo Eleanor of Toledo (Italian: ''Eleonora di Toledo'', 11 January 1522 – 17 December 1562), born Doña Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, was a Spanish noblewoman and Duchess of Florence as the first wife of Cosimo I de' Medici. A keen businessw ...

, who married Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Through her granddaughter Marie de' Medici, Queen of France, she became the ancestor of many crowned heads and heirs apparent of Europe. In 1802,

María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Silva-Bazán, 13th Duchess of Alba, GE (10 June 1762 – 23 July 1802), was a Spanish aristocrat and a popular subject of the painter Francisco de Goya. Biography María Teresa, as she was called in he ...

, died without any issue and her titles were inherited by a relative, Carlos Miguel Fitz-James Stuart, 14th Duke of Alba. Thus, the dukedom of Alba passed to the senior branch of the House of Fitz-James Stuart, which took over the patrimony of the House of Alba. From 1953 until 2014, the head of the House of Alba was

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba GE (28 March 1926 – 20 November 2014) was one of the most senior aristocrats in Spain, as well as the most titled aristocrat in the world, a distinction now held by ...

. She held the Guinness Book of Records title for the largest number of noble titles, with 57 titles. The current head of the House of Alba is Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martínez de Irujo, 19th Duke of Alba, who succeeded his mother after her death in 2014.'' Boletín Oficial del Estado''
no. 143, p. 50250
16 June 2015 . Retrieved 28 December 2015. His father was , a younger son of the 9th Duke of Sotomayor. The family owns a significant collection of art, furniture and historic documents, mainly at the

Liria Palace The Liria Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio de Liria'') is a neoclassical palace in Madrid, Spain. It is the Madrid residence of the Dukes of Alba. History Built around 1770 to a design by the architect Ventura Rodríguez, it was commissioned by Jam ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

.Treasures of the House of Alba
Retrieved 2017-09-06.

References

External links

House of Alba Foundation

{{in lang, es
The treasures of the House of Alba
Roman Catholic families Spanish nobility

History

See also

References

External links